


message in a bottle

by gotham_ruaidh



Series: Gotham Writes for Imagine Claire & Jamie [18]
Category: Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-04 02:23:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5316935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gotham_ruaidh/pseuds/gotham_ruaidh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How about a 'message in a bottle' story?What if,when Jaime was missing Claire after she left,he wrote her a letter(maybe one for his unborn child too?),sealed it and left if somewhere where he thought if could be preserved for centuries for Claire to find?(maybe he left a note on it to open it in1948 and it was passed on in the family as curiosity and when her story makes it to the newspaper someone remembers the name on it?).What would he write?What would Claire do if she found out he survived?</p>
            </blockquote>





	message in a bottle

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as our Thanksgiving prompt at [Imagine Claire & Jamie](http://imagineclaireandjamie.tumblr.com/post/134001722257/how-about-a-message-in-a-bottle-storywhat) on tumblr, where my fellow Imagine mods and I each wrote a ficlet in response to this prompt. Enjoy!

It came with the afternoon post – tucked underneath bills and catalogues and the miscellanea of their move to Boston. The return address was marked Edinburgh, care of a solicitor’s office. Thinking it to be some papers Frank had requested for his book, Claire almost ignored it – but the baby chose that moment to kick. And she collapsed into the stiff dining room chair as soon as she slid the envelope from under the pile.

It was addressed to her. Or, rather, Claire Beauchamp Fraser Randall.

Claire’s hands trembled as she carefully slit open the envelope. Three items dropped out – a single typewritten sheet, an incredibly battered and fragile package – and a small wooden snake, with “Sawny” scratched on the underside.

No. It couldn’t be –

Quickly she scanned the solicitor’s letter. The two items had been discovered at the bottom of a trunk in a warehouse owned by a recently bankrupted Scottish bank. The envelope holding them had disintegrated when the collection agents touched it – but the name on the package had been enough for the solicitors to track her down.

Claire’s heart stopped as she recognized the careful, painstaking scrawl on the front.

_Claire Beauchamp Fraser Randall – Oxfordshire – to be opened after 1945_

Claire shook her head and gingerly unwound the twine holding the package together – and the paper unfolded like a musty flower. Five – no, ten sheets. All covered in Jamie’s distinctive handwriting.

She rested one hand on her belly – grounding herself – and gently picked up the top sheet.

_Lallybroch, 1748_

_My dearest Wife –_

_As you can see from the Location and Date of this Missive, I am indeed Alive. Whether by the grace of God, or the stubbornness of my Sister, I endured the calamity on Culloden Moor and have lived on our Estate these two years past._

_There is again a Price on my head, so I have chosen to live in the Cave behind the main house, where I remain close to my Family but am safe from Danger._

_It is cold and quiet but I treasure the Solitude. I now write to pass the time and reflect. You are at the front of my mind at every moment of every Day, and I often find myself speaking aloud to you when the Silence becomes too much to bear._

_Know that I love you with every ounce of my Being and long to feel you safe within my arms. But if you succeeded in crossing through the Stones – and the bairn was born healthy and strong – then I cannot regret any part of the choice we made. Seeing you in my Dreams will sustain me…_

Claire’s vision blurred – and she realized tears had been silently streaming down her face. Her thumb traced the faded ink, longing so desperately to see him, touch him –

Find him. He was still alive. He had survived. And she could return to him, to Lallybroch. To her true life.

Strengthened with fresh determination, Claire carefully rose to her feet and hurried to Frank’s study. Those notes about the Jacobites and Culloden were in a manila folder on his desk…


End file.
